Office of the Historian

840.50/2380j

The Assistant Secretary of State (Long) to the British Minister (Hall)4

Washington, August 28, 1943.

My Dear Mr. Hall: I wish to refer to the memorandum setting forth proposed changes in the draft, of May 15, 1943, of an agreement for a United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which Mr. Acheson placed before you on August 19. Subsequent consideration of these changes in the Department has led to the conclusion that this Government would prefer to modify those changes in the following regards:

  • Article II. In the first paragraph the last phrase in the first sentence should read “by action of the Council” instead of “by action by the Council”.
  • Article III. paragraph 3. The next to the last sentence should begin “The Central Committee shall invite the participation of the representatives of any member government” instead of “It shall invite the participation of the representatives of any member government.”
  • Article VI. The last sentence should read “Each member government undertakes, subject to the requirements of its constitutional procedure, to contribute to the Administration promptly its share of the administrative expenses so determined”, instead of “Each member government will, in so far as its appropriate constitutional bodies shall authorize and approve, contribute to the Administration its share of the administrative expenses so determined.”
  • Article IX. The last two sentences, which were added to the original Article IX, should be dropped from Article IX and added to the Agreement as “Article X, Withdrawal”.
  • Article IX would then read: “This Agreement shall enter into force with respect to each signatory on the date when the Agreement is signed by that signatory, unless otherwise specified by such signatory.”
  • Article X would then read: “Any member government may give notice of withdrawal from the Administration at any time after the expiration of six months from the entry into force of the Agreement for that government. Such notice shall take effect twelve months after the date of its communication to the Director General subject to the member government having met by that time all financial, supply or other material obligations accepted or undertaken by it.”

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It will be appreciated if you will inform your Government that this Government wishes to modify the Memorandum of the proposed changes in these respects and hopes that your Government will find these modifications acceptable.

Breckinridge Long
  1. The same, mutatis mutandis, on the same date, to the Chinese Ambassador and the Soviet Chargé.↩